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OffenceAREASOFEMPHASISGUIDELINES FOR COACHESAt international junior level our teamscurrently turn the ball over more frequentlythan other teams , highlighting our currentskill deficiencies. This could in part be dueto the players’ inability to react and makeappropriate offensive decisions when facedwith pressure and changing defensivesystems or patterns. Unforced errorsrepresent missed opportunities and will leadto defeat, but these turnovers are not all todo with poor decision making. They arefirstly directly related to the player’s skilllevel and secondly to the experience withthese skills against pressure.The way we teach, coach and developoffensive skills through training is an aspecton which federations and coaches areoften judged. Offence is the first andforemost aspect of the game that a coachtries to develop in players and as such isimportant in terms of priority. However,finding the time to develop individual skillover time is a greater challenge in the UK.The general offensive skill level of Britishplayers needs to improve and the absenceof skilled point guards at all levels ashighlighted in the following section. It is afurther reason for a review of how wecoach offence in the UK.We need to become better at the quality ofour coaching of the individual and teamoffensive skills in the available time. Ourpriority, as with the others Areas ofEmphasis, is not only finding more time,more training and more games, but actuallyeliminating the waste of poor timemanagement and poor coaching.In simple terms “If there is no skillthen there is no need for timededicated to tactics”. Howeverfinding the balance in the availabletime are issues for all our coachesand the national system.What Are The MajorTechnical Points ForIndividual Offence?Individually and collectively at age levelnational league and in senior competition,particularly on the men’s side, we have atendency to play too quick, often withoutseeing the opportunity on the floor. Thereality is that vision and timing in teamoffence are poor because of thecombination of playing quick and playingwithout the necessary skill set. Oftenoffences popular at senior level areemployed at the junior level but without thesame understanding and experience. At alllevels, through better vision, we must seeour moving players as receiving targets.This is a fundamental skill as well as atactical concept.Passing and receiving (moving withoutthe ball) with vision will lead to a greaterunderstanding of what opportunities aredeveloping even before they presentthemselves. The passing and receivingsection discusses the techniques andprinciples for this. More attention to passingand receiving and the triplethreat position will improve our players’abilities to make good decisions andexecute under pressure.104